The Future Of The Marvel Cinematic Universe

It’s been a few weeks since Endgame came out, and the Russo Brothers have lifted the ban on spoilers by dropping the new trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home. So it’s about time we had a talk about Endgame and what it means for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

We shouldn’t have to warn you at this point, however, there WILL be spoilers so proceed at your own risk.

Asgardians of the Galaxy?

At the end of Endgame, we watch Thor leave “new Asgard” to Valkyrie and decides to tag along and join the Guardian of the Galaxy gang to explore space and beyond. In Infinity War, we certainly saw some great chemistry between the band of misfits and the God of Thunder, so it would be great to see this return in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Hemsworth has gone on record numerous times stating, “I’d play this character for as long as anyone would let me. I love it so much.”. With that in mind, it isn’t the most far-fetched idea to see him reprise his role not only in a potential Thor 4, but also joining the cast of other films from time to time.

The Return of Iron Man and Captain America

So hold on, I know what you’re thinking. Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans contracts are over and their characters have even “retired” within MCU. But that’s not where this is heading. With almost certainty, we will see the characters in some capacity come back to the MCU. In the recent Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer, the Mysterio we see is actually from another universe that suffered from a rift between worlds during the snap. So just like in the comics where we had Earth-616, Earth-1610, and Earth-928, this could in fact open up the door for those heroes from other Universes to return and make their way back to Earth-199999.

In Endgame we did see Captain America pass the torch (or shield, more appropriately) to Sam Wilson. Sam Wilson (Falcon) along with Bucky are set to star in their own spin off for the upcoming streaming platform, Disney+. But throughout Endgame, Iron Man didn’t get to pass on his legacy to anyone else. He simply undid the snap and saved millions, at the expense of himself. So this leaves us with several possible outcomes that MCU could take, which could include Iron Man gracing the silver screen once more or we could even see Pepper Potts or Morgan Stark take on the lime light in upcoming films.

22 Films Down, A Universe To Go

With the Infinity Stone Saga in the books, where is MCU planning on heading? With the films being released as part of Phase 4, it seems like we may be seeing a lot of smaller, self-contained plots with maybe the occassional team up here and there. It doesn’t seem like we’ll be seeing anything close to what has been laid out for fans across the past decade. And we should all be extremely proud and grateful that MCU didn’t implode in the first few movies, that in itself is a remarkable feat.

That being said, Disney has already given us a little hint as to where things are heading. With the reveal of Mysterio being from an alternate universe, MCU seems to be heading towards the direction of something similar to 2015s “Secret War” where we will see the Marvel multiverse converging on itself and leading to the destruction of multiple Marvel universes. Disney is known for dropping Easter eggs for possible future events, and the reveal of the multiverse in the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer seems to be on par for the course. Fans everywhere should expect to see more wibbly wobbly time traveling and universe hopping throughout future films and the slated Disney+ shows.

Budapest

Yes, we know. Black Widow dies in Endgame by sacrificing herself to grant Hawkeye the Soul Stone. Bruce states that he tried to bring her back, but he was unable to. What his reasoning was is still to be determined, and may possibly go unanswered for now. Despite the bad news, Black Widow is finally getting her own solo film that serves as a prequel to everything that has happened in the MCU so far. Fingers crossed, all of us are dying to know what happened in Budapest. It’s been teased during the first Avengers movie where Black Widow makes a comment about Budapest during the Battle of New York. It is then again referenced by Alexander Pierce during the “Winter Soldier”, and again during Endgame while traveling to Vomir. Even in Captain Marvel, Nick Fury briefly mentions those magically words, Budapest, in a small talk style conversation with Carol Danvers. So it seems likely the film will definitely take place in Fury’s early days at S.H.I.E.L.D. and whatever happened is something that stuck with them over the course of the franchise. Seeing a full length film of the mission featuring Hawkeye, Nick Fury and Black Widow would be a dream come true.